Networking activities are carried out with the aim of creating new connections with other LIFE projects dealing with environmental legislation, environmental liability in protected plant and animal species and their habitats. We are also in contact with LIFE projects working in other areas, to exchange experiences, gain new contacts for further actions and to spread the information and results of the EcoLex Life project. Throughout the project implementation, we are networking with various organizations that work in the area of environmental liability and have an active impact on reducing the risk of environmental damage.

In Athens, we met with representatives of the LIFE Natura Themisproject (LIFE14/GIE/GR/000026). The project is committed to increase the number of environmental damage claims. They have developed an application for anonymous notification of damage, which is forwarded to the relevant authorities. The application currently only works on Crete, but you can read more about it on bit.ly/Prijava-skode.

The LIFE Natura Themis (LIFE14/GIE/GR/000026: “Promoting awareness of wildlife crime prosecution and liability for biodiversity damage in NATURA 2000 areas in Crete”) is a five years’ project, aiming to promote environmental crime prosecution within NATURA 2000 areas in Crete, Greece. The project is addressed to Judges, State Prosecutors, Lawyers, NGOs, administrative authorities with interrogative competencies and the lay public.Coordinating Beneficiary of the project is the University of Crete – Natural History Museum of Crete (UoC – NHMC) and Associated Beneficiaries are: Greek Ministry of Environment & Energy – Coordination Office for the Implementation of Environmental Liability (YPEN – COIEL), the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Natura (HSPN), the Bar Association of Chania (CB) and the Bar Association of Heraklion (HB).The need to implement the aforementioned project arose after finding that prosecutors and interrogative authorities are not familiar with the competencies and the protection status of the protected areas.

Key objectives of the “LIFE Natura Themis” project are:– Awareness of relevant authorities that the environmental crime is a separate field of criminal law and there is individual responsibility for preventing and remedying environmental damage.– The capacity building of interrogative clerks in preventing and effectively prosecuting environmental crime and taking on the best possible compensation for damage to the environment.– The documentation that the correct application of environmental law promotes local development and social cohesion, as well as ensures the rational use of natural resources.– The awareness of inhabitants of NATURA 2000 sites about the illegal activity in their areas, which affects local development, social cohesion and economic prosperity.

The implementation of these objectives is based on the primary data gathered in cooperation with the competent authorities, through the two Environmental Law Observatories in East Crete and West Crete, respectively. The data is available to the public on the official website of the project. The environmental crime map and the interrogation authorities’ guides intend to facilitate the planning and the conductingof criminal prosecution.

Visit their site at: http://www.lifethemis.eu/

LIFE-ENPE (LIFE14 GIE/UK/000043)is a multi partner project that will improve compliance with EU Environmental Law by addressing uneven and incomplete implementation across Member States through improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of prosecutors and judges in combating environmental crime. The project has the following objectives:– Build a self-sustaining network to provide a platform for trans-national cooperation, sharing best practice and disseminating intelligence and expertise between public bodies charged with prosecuting environmental crime;– Improve the collation and dissemination of information on environmental crime, its prosecution and adjudication, building a shared EU-wide knowledge resource permanently maintained by the ENPE network to improve understanding of the issues, barriers and multilateral dimensions of environmental crime; and– Improve capacity and consistency in Europe for combating transnational waste, wildlife and chemical pollution crimes, by convening 4 working groups to prepare training packages demonstrating best practice in prosecuting crime.

The primary objective of LIFE Lynx(LIFE16 NAT/SI/000634) is rescuing the Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population from extinction and to preserve it in the long term. Currently, the population is small, isolated, and extremely inbred. It urgently needs reinforcement by introducing additional, healthy animals from another population. The project aims to develop science-based management tools for strategic planning to ensure long-term viability of lynx. These include using computer modeling based on data from the project to understand how to genetically and demographically manage the population for the long term. This scientific information will be incorporated into management plans and other strategic documents. Another objective is to improve population connectivity for lynx. Natural gene flow of lynx within this population will be increased, in order to avoid additional reintroductions in the future. Such a metapopulation will help reduce negative impacts of habitat fragmentation and will reverse genetic deterioration across entire Dinaric-SE Alpine population.

The main objective of the project PannonEagle Life (LIFE15 NAT/HU/000902) is to increase the population of the eastern imperial eagle in the Pannonian Region through significantly decreasing the non-natural mortality caused by persecution incidents.

Also to: – Decrease the direct adverse effects of persecution incidents on the Pannonian imperial eagle population.– Increase the chance of detecting illegal activities and imposing precedent judgments in the case of bird persecution incidents.– Increase stakeholder awareness about the overestimated effect of raptor species on game populations and about alternative eagle-friendly game management methods.– Increase public awareness about the conservational importance of imperial eagles and about the possible consequences of persecution incidents.

E-waste governance(LIFE14 GIE/SI/000176) project with the slogan E-cyclefocuses on intensive and continued informing of users and consumers of e-devices and batteries on the necessity of separate collection and negative impacts on the environment and human health in case of inappropriate management.

The project will take place between 2016 and 2020 based on three main activities (street containers, green corners, mobile collection) which will speak to different target groups in different environments.Purpose of the project:– Raising the awareness of target groups about the importance of correct e-waste and waste battery management and instigating changes in their behaviour,– Establishing an infrastructure network throughout Slovenia to simplify and facilitate separate collection of e-waste and waste batteries.

In politically fragmented landscape of Europe, one of the most important goals in conservation and management of brown bears is transboundary, population level coordination. Unfortunately, this goal is often very difficult to achieve. The LIFE DINALP BEAR (LIFE13 NAT/SI/000550) project is trying to overcome this obstacle in Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Italy through a large Life+ project mainly funded by the European Commission (69%) and targeting the brown bear population in Northern Dinaric Mts. and south-eastern Alps. Conflicts between humans and brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations in Europe remain an ongoing threat to the conservation status of bears and steps must be taken to improve coexistence. Measures need to tackle such challenges as a lack of understanding of bears’ socio-economic and environmental value, inflated estimations of the risk of bear attacks leading to a lower tolerance of bears; and high traffic-related mortality, associated with the increasing fragmentation of its habitat as a result of growing traffic infrastructure and urbanisation.

Main objectives are:– Population-level monitoring, management and conservation of brown bears in northern Dinaric Mountains and south-eastern Alps.– Decrease of human-bear conflicts and promotion of coexistence.– Promotion of natural expansion of Brown bear from Dinaric Mountains into the Alps.

MATHER (LIFE16 ENV/IT/000211) is a Life project that aims at designing and developing a highly innovative ICT tool to collect, monitor and make accessible and interoperable chemical data used in mass market products (like home appliances) including tracking of current and future EU regulations in the field of chemicals and environment, such as RoHS and REACH.

Project objectives are:– Spreading awareness by enhancing the consciousness of human and environmental impacts of materials and chemicals used in purchased components for own products to sustain a more informed decision making about materials and components selection, during products design and production.– Providing EU Health Units with precious data about composition, quantity and environmentalhuman possible impacts to allow assessing the exposures from chemical mixtures.– Highly reducing internal costs, related to the continuous updating of materials databases and dramatically reducing the time-to-compliance with regulations of products before accessing the market.– Supporting change by supporting companies and policy makers in a more conscious selection and use of chemicals in products and guaranteeing the prompt implementation of EU policies&directives related to chemicals in EU products and production processes.

LIFE FUTURE (LIFE14 ENV/ES/000703) is a European project that involves the development and validation of the GUF Tool, which is an online tool to support public bodies on the decision making related to the purchase of more environmentally friendly urban furniture.

LIFE FUTURE aims to promote green public procurement, focusing on the urban furniture sector. The project will allow to overcome the difficulties encountered by persons in charge of public procurement procedures when they have to include environmental clauses in call for tenders and assess the offers received, due to their limited knowledge on environmental matters.

The GUF Tool will guide users throughout the whole tender process, from the generation of the environmental requirements that they must include in the call for public tenders to the comparative environmental assessment of the products offered by different suppliers. The tool will be used to perform real public procurements of at least 200 urban furniture products during the project. The number of products acquired with the support of the tool is estimated at 17,500 for the medium term (during the 5 years after the end of the project).

Natura 2000 sites are the heart of nature conservation in Greece and the European Union. They serve as a protecting shield of life for endangered species and areas of high conservation value, ensuring a fair balance between people and nature. The LIFE-IP 4 NATURA (LIFE16 IPE/GR/000002) project’s objective is to substantially enhance Greece’s nature conservation framework in a way that simultaneously ensures the country’s compliance with the European Union’s nature legislation. That is why the project’s framework cohesively integrates actions covering all aspects of nature protection: policy, economy, society and science. Currently the Natura 2000 network in Greece covers approximately 28% of the country’s land and about 20% of its marine territory.

Project objectives are:– Improve the conservation status for species & habitats of community interest.– Integrated management of the Greek Natura 2000 network.– Capacity building to strengthen the authorities responsible for the implementation of environmental legislation.– Actively engage all the stakeholders involved in the conservation and management of the Natura 2000 network.– Improve public awareness and knowledge of the Natura 2000 network, the habitats and species it supports, and the ecosystem services it provides.– Mobilisation of complementary funds to achieve the objectives of the EU Nature Directives.